Latest Articles about Turkey
Lessons Learned About Turkey and Azerbaijan After Erdogan’s Washington Visit
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s December 7-8 visit to Washington (EDM, December 9) underscored the decline in Washington’s ability to influence Turkish foreign policy decisions. It is within this broader context, Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu turned down Washington’s demands for Turkey to... MORE
Ankara Links Karabakh Settlement to Rapprochement with Yerevan
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has clearly reaffirmed the linkage between normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations and early substantial progress toward resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. Ankara defines such progress as withdrawal of Armenian troops from occupied districts of Azerbaijan beyond Upper Karabakh, pending a... MORE
PKK Leader Abdullah Ocalan Challenges Omission from Peace Initiative from His Prison Cell
Turkey has been busy debating the recent initiative of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi - AKP) to end the long conflict between Turkish security forces and the Kurdistan Workers Party (Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan – PKK). On November 12, Turkish Interior Minister... MORE
Turkish Diplomacy Reshapes the Armenian Political Landscape
The dramatic rapprochement with Turkey is having profound implications for Armenia’s domestic political scene and, in particular, among its diverse and volatile opposition. The main opposition player, Levon Ter-Petrosian, has defended President Serzh Sargsyan against what he sees as unjustified nationalist criticism and essentially offered... MORE
Azerbaijan Seeks Alternative Gas Export Routes: Sending a Signal to Ankara
“We are interested in exporting our resources through different routes,” Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev stated during his visit to Bulgaria on November 13 (AZTV). On the same day, he paid a short working visit to Sofia to meet his counterpart Georgi Parvanov and to sign... MORE
Turkish Navy’s Fight Against Piracy in the Gulf of Aden Serves Foreign Policy Goals
In February, the Turkish Parliament approved a government motion allowing Ankara to deploy Turkish naval forces (Turk Deniz Kuvvetleri) as part of Combined Task Force 151 (CTF-151), an international anti-piracy naval force operating off the coast of Somalia. The motion called for a one-year limit... MORE
Turkish-Azerbaijani “Cold War:” Moscow Benefits from Washington’s Indecisiveness
Recent weeks have seen unprecedented and potentially far reaching damage to the Turkish-Azerbaijani strategic partnership. Ever since Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) announced its intension to normalize relations with Azerbaijan’s arch-rival Armenia, the relationship between Ankara and Baku has cooled. The Azerbaijani leadership... MORE
The DTP Jeopardizes the Kurdish Initiative
Since June, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government’s Kurdish initiative has stimulated debate on how to address the Kurdish question. After months of such debates on the issue the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)’s imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan, in consultation with the Turkish state apparatus,... MORE
Southern Corridor, White Stream: the Strategic Rationale
White Stream, the proposed gas pipeline from Georgia to Romania on the seabed of the Black Sea, is intended to maximize European gas imports from Central Asia through the E.U.-initiated Southern Corridor. The Corridor grand design spans Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, and –with White Stream– also... MORE
Erdogan’s Visit to Tehran Raises Questions over Turkish Foreign Policy
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s two day official visit to Iran gained the attention of world leaders, because soon after his visit to Tehran he was scheduled to visit Washington on October 29. However, due to his tight schedule, Erdogan’s visit to Washington was... MORE